Hello Vermonters!

I'm looking at career opportunities and am wondering about life in the Northern Addison or Southern Chittenden county area.  Would be moving from Michigan's upper peninsula.

Looks like plenty of local or close hiking and fishing opportunities.

Public land hunting (upland birds and archery deer) maybe an hour drive away? I'm curious if there are waterfowl options?

There doesn't appear to be local rifle and pistol ranges.

Home prices and taxes in general appear significantly higher than local.

What's the local mindset?  Liberal vs conservative vs libertarian?

I see magazine capacity restrictions, but no handgun registration.  Anything else to be aware of?

Addison would be my choice and more west than east (just my opinion from what I like to do) Everything you need within a short drive, Middlebury, Rutland, Burlington area when it comes to shopping.

Tons of hiking all over, and fishing on Champlain is a gold mine, along with Bomoseen and other smaller ponds and lakes in the area.

WMA (wildlife management areas) are around and open to hunting close by, but bow hunting may just be out your back door or close to home with a friendly knock on the door.  Upland, I am not a "real" grouse hunter but they seem to have been decreasing over time.  Best populations seem to be in the NEK (North East Kingdom) plenty of woodcock on their migration thru the Champlain Valley.  I did see a duck on Lake Champlain 1 time

Ranges are few and far between, sort of.  Most people know someone with land to shoot on, but there are a few state ranges.  This is kind of a who you know, and how far you may want to travel.  Look into local clubs when you get here.

Home prices suck like most places these days, lots of $$ coming up from down south (COVID and second homes) and VT is not a tax friendly state by any means.

VT is very liberal, but get out of Burlington and there is a very live and let live attitude, with alot of "closet" conservatives.  It is very confusing and a mess......but we get more people at the gas station, asking about our duck boats and hunting in general.  Never get any bad issues.

Yes, the mag restrictions suck for someone coming into the state 15/handgun, 10/rifle, but........I won't say any more  We are NFA friendly, suppressors are good to go, constitutional carry.

Questions IM me  @jchewie1

Vermont is like alot of the northeast, very quiet but the cities make the noise, a liberal noise the red crowd wants to be left alone. Overall my interactions with regular folk are they want to be left alone or lean pretty conservative or really liberal in the cities. The mag ban sucks i wish we could address that, but i bought in years ago it just fizzles out any new interests.  Plenty of remote areas to target practice, currently I'm in Barre but hail from Central Vt. Born in Bridgeport CT. supposedly related to Seth Warner. Its boring unless you like the outdoors. I'd like it more  if it wasn't for the liberals and very bad drug epidemic. and overall all if people were a lil more open and less divided on our side. Ive' yet to find someone that thinks the same, mostly its truck nuts and tapco, or it fudds. Mainly because i don't offer out i own any and shut up with politics. Like most of the northeast.

It's funny, I hear about the drugs, but I was born and raised here (lived all over the state except NEK one time or another) and I never see the heavy drug use.  Must be in places that are major population centers, which I avoid like the plague these days.  Just my .02.

Your not looking hard enough, even in 2008 era i remember someone killed in lawn and garden at wal-mart in rutland over 5 bucks. Here in barre non stop drug overdoses, i talk to medical and it is mostly drug related they deal with.  Sure out in the country people keep to themselves and its primarily alcohol. But no it be foolish to think that drugs did not take hold here. New England in general is riddled with it.  Ive even found drug dens. Free homing for em etc. Like to know where you are in vt. I get its EVERYWHERE, but Burlington is horrible with it, Morrisville, rutland, bennington, barre etc.  Yeah any city source. Outside of that vt is great  besides our commie governor.  granted i'm well travelled in vt and upstate NY, so I may have a little more input. I did do that for years,  wanna see a ghost town go to Massena ny.

I lived in Rutland from 1993-2013. It really changed for the worse regarding drugs and associated crime the last five years or so I was there. Just on my street we had two drug houses raided in two years. My house was also burglarized by a drug addict looking to score cash and goods to trade for Oxy. Local kid got hooked on drugs coming in from NYC and Holyoke. The Amtrack station downtown was a natural conduit for drug trafficking. We called it the "Amcrack" station.

We even had some half-assed gang move into town, the "Los Solidos", because the gangs and dealers saw backwards (i.e. inexperienced law enforcement) and rural Vermont as a ripe new market. My wife's cousin was a city cop, then detective, then State Police undercover officer. He really saw the inside scoop on what was going on and said it was only getting worse.

Now, is it as bad or worse than any big city anywhere? Probably not, but its not the same Vermont where people left their doors unlocked and guns in the glass and wood gun cabinet in the den.